We all have to agree that this was a very poor performance from the Lads but again, we have been saved by a last minute goal to keep our promotion bid on track. It seems it has been a season for last minute goals with Hull, Burnley, Derby and now Stoke and they will all count come the end of the season. It was a performance that we had to expect sooner or later on this twelve game unbeaten run but if we can manage to pick up points and play that badly we have to be confident of reaching the promise land of the top two spots.
Keane decided to bring back Yorkie and also play the on time Hysen to add a bit more flair onto the left hand side replacing Ross Wallace. Stokes was surprisingly left out of the squad and the SWC decided to treat him to a chant of “Stokesy what’s the time?” as he was spotted in the boxes above them, much to the amusement of Carlos and Kavanagh.
Sunderland were never comfortable at the back and gifted Stoke the chance to come at them time and time again with the failure to get hold of the ball or just simply clear it when it was needed. Against a better team we could have lost this game and it also shows that Nyron without Evans can be very average.
Sidibe (No.9) was a class act from the starting whistle and with his sheer strength and pace the Sunderland back four could get no-where near him and this was the theme for most of the game until he was replaced later in the game. The game started slowly for Sunderland as the strong Stoke team done what they did at the Britannia earlier this season, out muscled and fought harder than Sunderland in the centre of the park. The first chance fell to Leadbitter who was fouled but after the referee played advantage he could only find the boot of their defender when he should have easily played in the surging run of Toby Hysen. Sunderland looked good going forward and you felt with us on this unbeaten run of 11 games it would only be a matter of time before we got the opening goal…. but this never happened.
After an earlier conversation with my friend who sits next to me every game on how important Darren Ward has been this season and is commanding in the air, he decided to put on his Massimo Taibi gloves and let slip of an absolute howler for Russell to grab the opening goal. Another poor clearing header from the defence allowed him to strike the ball from 25 yds but still it was a clanger that the Welshmen will want to forget quickly. Not what we needed!
Within one minute Sunderland got the equaliser and set up a fascinating game with Leadbitter getting the ball on the right and crossing into Connolly who neatly chested it down for Deano to drill into the back of the net. Game on!
Sunderland then created numerous chances after the goal and should of put at least one of them away but it looked like one of those nights were nothing would bounce our way. Hysen was played clean through by Connolly only to see his low effort played against the keeper’s legs, a great chance that he should have taken.
But as Sunderland were pushing forward for the second goal the defence was again shown to be frail and thin in numbers as a corner created a two v one against Nyron that they should of punished us for. It was the first time in a long run that our defence has looked so fragile and set up their second goal just seconds before half time. This was just moments after Stern John who never made any impression at the Stadium or on Sky was played through but took an age to decide whether to lash it or chip it, he chose the wrong option as he lifted it straight over the bar.
The second goal by Hoefkin was why Keano left his dug out and stormed down to the dressing rooms as he saw exactly why the defence were not good enough tonight. A cross came in after a small game of head tennis the Stoke player was allowed to bring it down and slot into the keepers left hand side.
Keano’s team talk at half time would of been XXX rated but all he needed to say was look at the half time scores and if you score a couple of goals we can make it into the top two. It’s a shame that no-one playing came out thinking like this as we gave the ball away countless times in dangerous positions and didn’t have the same flow we normally have in midfield. Maybe Leadbitter being used as a right winger is something that needs to be changed for the next game against Hull.
Evans was replaced by Wallace and Collins, who was the best out of the lot in defence, was moved to centre-back. It seems that Tony Pulis had a game plan at half time, waste as much time as possible and fall down under any type of tackle, even ones where the Sunderland players are no-where near you. This was evident from Hoefkins taking about 2 minutes just to take a simple throw in on 47 minutes!
John was replaced by Murphy who I rated as the game changer against Barnsley with his direct running and urgency up front, where as John was about as effective as Hysen, Fulop and Stokes watches on Friday evening. Sunderland played the ball around the Stoke penalty area very well but the final product was always very poor and never got to test the Stoke goalie until the final five minutes.
The breakthrough came in the 90th minute as another Leadbitter cross was flicked onwards by Nos to Murphy who struck the ball into the net to send the Sunderland fans daft again in the last moments. In the words of Crabbers “Phheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!”
All in all a very lively game for the neutral but we all know none of us are neutrals in a game that we may look back on and think this was more of a point than a missed opportunity come May. What Keano needs to remember also is, if Hendrie was playing tonight we would have had much more problems to deal with and were lucky to grab the point in another important night in the Championship.
MoM – Not much to pick from in a very average performance but Danny Collins done himself no harm in a game that showed even he can look good against tough opposition.
Clancey Wiggum
Aka Gary Johnson
